Trying to do a repeat breeding. Last year we bred naturally and got to ties, resulting in 8 pups. This year have attempted breeding three times, each time with insertion, but comign out when normaly would tie. Never had this happen before. And again, this is the same male and female that toed when bred just last year, what changed? AND, what are the chances of her getting prenant without a tie? If she does, will the litter be small?

Confused...

I would do an AI just to make sure. Have you done progesterone? Maybe its not time?

I realize that doing AI would be best bet, just curious of two things... First, why is this happening, and second, what are chances of a dog getting pregant under these circumstances, assuming timing is right and sperm is good, etc.

Does anyone have experience with this?

I have a boy that never ties, so he has to have an AI. So I guess I get a little too sure that he would not breed one on his own. For 4 years he never has. Then one day one of my girls that was only around him during the day when I "thought" I was around the whole time. She had 2 puppies. So I don't trust now that he can't do it on his own.

A tie is not necessary for pregnancy to result but I would do an AI in your case as you are wanting a litter. I remember, years ago, I had a friend who had a tiny eight pound Boston Terrier bitch who was a terrible flirt when in heat. My friend was under the mistaken impression that her little dog could not get pregnant if the dog she was flirting with was too large for a tie to be physically possible. The poor little girl ended up pregnant with a singleton by a male who was a St Bernard/Rottie cross who weighed well over 120 lbs. Needless to say that ended up in an emergency C-section.

I have always found outside ties happen when the bitch isn't quite ready. When she is right on then those muscles tighten up and hold the tie.

In addition to the suggestions re: timing, I would like to add that I had a veteran male who in his younger years, always had ties, even with fiesty females who fought him off. As he aged, it just seemed he didn't have the strength to thrust hard enough to lock that tie. In those days, I never did AI's myself. My mentor, (his breeder) had sent a few different females to me for him to breed. I worried they wouldn't take and would call her, wanting her her to come over to do AI's. She was very relaxed about it and said if it was meant to be, it would be. He always got the girl pregnant, despite no tie.

Yes, there can be puppies without a tie but there must be penetration. This happened about a year ago for us. 9 puppies. It doesn't take a lot of semen to produce puppies if the time is right. It sure made a believer out of me.

I had one I took to the stud within 18 hrs of her progesterone reading 11.2ng. First attempt at breeding, no tie. We waited a couple more hours, and again, no tie. We did elevate her for a few minutes as the breeder was sure the goods were in her. 8.5 wks later she delievered 12 puppies.

A flatcoat friend had 2 breed thru chain link and also resulted in ~11. So no, a tie is not necessary!